The Fool Feeds On Trash

April 15, 2008 — Yeap Chee Seng

14 A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash.
Proverbs 15:14 (NLT)

This verse tells us one of the habits of a wise person is to gain knowledge. God used the term “hungry for knowledge” to give us the impression of a craving to learn. The wise consider learning to be a part of life, not something to get over with once you leave school.

Please note that the above verse never say you must be hungry for knowledge. No one, including God can force us to be hungry for anything. We have to do it ourselves. In fact, we will be hungry for knowledge when we increase in wisdom. The only way we can increase in wisdom is by spending time with God in prayer, reading the Bible and listening to faith messages.

The purpose of this article is not to advise you to be hungry for knowledge. That will be an insult to your wisdom. If you happen to log onto this blog regularly, you must be serious with your relationship with God. You must be increasing in your wisdom. This means you are already hungry for knowledge. The real purpose of this article is to explore what to do in order to benefit from this hunger.

The second part of the above verse says the fool feeds on trash. Based on the context of the entire verse, the term “trash” here is not the stuff we throw into the bin. It refers to information that does not add to our knowledge or lessons that cause more harms than good.

Let me give you an example. I have many comments in this blog. One of them came from a religious guy who had invited me to his blog to learn about his religion. I declined. Why do you think I don’t even bother to even click on this guy’s blog? Am I afraid of the truth? This is what the religious people will want to believe. In their mind the only way you can know the truth is by subjecting yourself to be under the bondage of religion.

The reason I declined to even take a peep at this guy’s blog is I don’t want to waste time feeding on trash. I was in religious churches for close to 10 years and the only thing I got from them is trash. According to Proverbs 15:14 fools feed on trash. I am not a fool and therefore I am not interested in learning religion.

Let me expound further on the concept of trash here. It has 2 characteristics:
1. It does not bring benefit.
2. It causes harm.

Let me use religion, specifically the Christian Religion as an example. What can you learn by listening to religious sermon?

First, it is based on hypocrisy. If you are not a Christian, they will tell you how good their God is. However, once you become a Christian, the situation becomes opposite. God is still good but the term “good” can mean God can give you cancer, cause you to be knocked down by a car or any other evil beyond what you can think of. This “good” God is the culprit behind all the evils that had happened in this world. This means when Osama bin Ladin sent planes to crash into the World Trade Centre towers and Pentagon, he was doing the will of God. This “good” God used terrorism to punish America for not practising school prayers.

What can you learn from this? Be a hypocrite? Make false promises? Can you trust such a “good” God? Will you dare to ask him to bring goodness to your life? If you do, you may end up having cancer because according to religion, God can give you cancer because he loves you. The only logical response to such a “good” God is to stay away from him as far as possible.

The second characteristic of the Christian Religion is, they never read the Bible in its proper context. I can show them the exact verses showing that God wants every Christian to be healthy and wealthy but their typical response is to quote other Bible verses out of context to “prove” otherwise. Those under the bondage of religion used the Bible to fight for their rights to be poor, sick, depressed and every other result of sin.

What do you think will happen if you choose to feed yourself with religious knowledge? It is the equivalent to feeding on trash. Not only will it not benefit you, it will result in harm. Feeding on religion will result in a life in sin.

The Christian Religion is only one of the trash we can find. There are others. For example, there are doom and gloom prophesies that speak of the world coming to an end because a meteor will crash the Earth or a global plague that kills everyone of us. These are trash because they cause us to be discouraged. If you want to read something or watch a movie, choose the book or movie that will encourage you and bring hope.

In conclusion, it is right for us to be hungry for knowledge and seek it continually for life. However, not every information is knowledge. Some are just trash. Not only will they nor beneficial, they can cause harm. True knowledge builds us up, encourages us, gives us confidence and courage to face the future. In contrast, trash will only get us to be discouraged, filled with doubt and unbelief. Go for knowledge, stay away from trash.